Mickael Bethe Selassie @ Asni Gallery

By K.. Seyoum

He uses wood and metal for the skeletons. For the flesh, he gathers old newspapers that he wets and mixes until he gets the right consistency. He covers his skeletons with the paste and waits patiently until they dry. The forms may be that of a warrior, an animal, a goddess, a temple or a magic totem with figures within figures that build up on layers. Then he moves on to body paint. Colour is fundamental to his work as it is directly associated to the forms he creates. His preferred media are bold and vivid acrylic paints with which he deliberately creates dramatic effects.
Mickael Bethe Selassie is fifty-three years old. He has been living and working in Paris since 1974. He went to France earlier to study chemistry and physics. However, fate had a different career reserved for him. The call came to him at the age of thirty, after having travelled around the world and consumed masses of history and anthropology books. Catholic by birth, his quest for spirituality draws him into Zen and Yoga disciplines. Enchanted while painting his living space walls, he is suddenly lured into the land of colours and the magic of art. Since then Mickael Bethe Selassie has been a full-time artist devoted primarily to the creation of polychrome sculptures in papier mâché.
The exhibition of Mickael Bethe Selassie that was opened at Asni Gallery on the 20th of March this year consists of sculptures, reliefs and paintings. There are twenty pieces exhibited. The gallery space has been transformed into a strange universe. In every room, it seems like there is an explosion of vibrant colours and intricate forms.
The warrior, protruding from the wall and its supporting board, as though impatient to come out and defend his homeland and national flag is facing the tall sculpture of a double-sided Sentinel standing on multiple strange faces and figures of children coming out of cavities. It suggests a protective atmosphere. This is appropriate because the adjacent room is occupied by a realm of children where a peaceful double-sided miniature Goddess is placed in the centre to watch over them. The children in the reliefs are playing In the Park or are moving around The Playground. In a painting, some are standing happily for A family Portrait with their parents. The atmosphere is bursting with joyful colours. It is a serene setting where purity seems to reign.
The room that hosts the animal world is dominated by the Magic Creature. It is standing in the middle of the room with its face turned towards the viewer. The polychrome animal seems to scrutinize whoever is looking at it. The expression on its face gives weight to its posture. The beast seems to assert its living space around it. The onlooker becomes conscious of the space claimed by the animal and the space occupied by the viewer.
A series of paintings entitled Hassab (contemplation) I, II, etc. are displayed in the remaining rooms. They are of small format charged with strong and vibrant colours. All the paintings represent peaceful human figures with intriguing poised facial expressions and postures. The eyes stare at the onlooker as though they are trying to see through you but at the same time they seem to be inviting the viewer to see through them too.
Mickael Bethe Selassie has developed a unique form of expression that defies attempts to classify his works as belonging to specific heritages. There are those who would like to see his works as purely African and sometimes more specifically Ethiopian and others who want to consider it as simply belonging to “primitive art”. However, for Mickael Bethe Selassie art and man are both universal and have their own uniqueness and individuality.
Mickael Bethe Selassie has been exhibiting his works since 1985 in museums and galleries around the world. His sculptures have been featured at group and solo shows in more than fifteen countries including Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Madagascar, Namibia, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, South Korea, Switzerland, Tunisia, UK and USA.
The Smithsonian National Museum of African Art in Washington D.C. has recently acquired one of Mickael Bethe Selassie’s sculptures for its permanent collection. Some of his other works are found in museums such as the De Stadshof Museum and Van Reekum Museum in the Netherlands. His monumental sculptures are also represented in the Sculpture Garden of Suwon and the UN Memorial Park in Pusan, South Korea. The Fond Municipal de l’Art Contemporain of the city of Paris also owns one of the artist’s masterpieces.
The current exhibition of Mickael Bethe Selassie at Asni Gallery will remain open to the public until the 17th of April 2004.

Girma Yifrashewa & Tsedenia G/Markos take their melody to West Africa

By Selome Kifle

Two well known musicians, pianist Girma Yifrashewa and vocalist, Tsedenia G/Markos are scheduled to travel to twelve countries on a concert tour, today.

At a press briefing held at the Alliance Ethio-française Tuesday March 23rd, the duo told the press that they are going to perform nine popular musical pieces: Elilta, Ambassel, Tizita, Anchihoye Lene, Bati, Kante Ras Alwerdem, Zimitegna Liboch and others at each concert that will be held mostly in West African countries.

The traditional and popular songs will be accompanied with the piano instead of traditional musical instruments. Both Girma and Tsedenia will be singing in their appearances and they believe this is a good opportunity to introduce their genre of music to the rest of Africa and perhaps even penetrate the African music market. 

Djibouti, Kampala, Victoria, Bujumbura, Lusaka, Harare, Pretoria, Johannesburg, Lesotho and Port Elizabeth are some of the cities they will travel to.

The project originated in 2003, on the occasion of a concert organized by the Alliance Ethio-Française for the “Féte de la Musique” where the song Bati as interpreted by Tsedenia and Girma gained popularity. Later they were convinced to pursue their collaboration by creating a collection based on the traditional Ethiopian music.

Tesdenia G/Markos had a great love for music ever since she was a child. Later she had a chance to be accepted at the right time by the Mega Creative Art Center. Up until 1999, she performed with Mega in Ethiopia and Italy. She later released her first CD entitled “Gede”, which literately means fortune. And since then she has been traveling to different parts of the world entertaining her audience.

Girma Yifrashewa was born in 1967 in Addis, and joined Yared Music School in 1983. He got an advanced diploma after specializing in piano for four years. Then went to Sofia (Bulgaria) for his second diploma at Sofia Music Conservatory. The pianist has performed a number of concerts touring in 11 East and South African countries and Indian Ocean countries. In 2003 he released a CD “Meleya Keleme” with the Ethiopian singer Michael Belayneh and toured France and Germany.  

 Jopicisces opens its doors for aspiring models

A school for aspiring young Ethiopian models opened this month at the Imperial Hotel.
Founder and manager of Jopicisces Modeling and Advertising Training Centers, Yohannes Girma said that in addition to training models the school hopes that the graduate models would contribute to the efforts towards changing the negative image of Ethiopia internationally.
Three Ethiopian professional models including the owner, a model himself, will be teaching the core classes which will include theory and practice of modeling and aerobics.
The center has adopted selection criteria for would be models. Female would have to be 1.68 meters to 1.80 meters tall and should have good physical form. Those who aspire to become models for TV and print advertising would have to possess what are considered to be good physical features.
As an experienced and professional model who has published a book on modeling, Yohannes got his accreditation from the Ministry of Education to open a school for models.
Modeling, he says, is one aspect of life. “It is even considered a lifestyle in the developed world.”
According to Yohannes, it can be said that modeling has started in Ethiopia way back in the mid-1800, during the reign of Emperor Tewodros when women, dressed in fine clothing, were paraded in front of the King’s good friend John Bell so that he can choose a wife. But modeling as a whole dates back to ancient Egypt, during the reign of Cleopatra.
Yohannes Girma promised that his center will create hot models and stage seasonal fashion shows that would highlight the latest designs in clothing.

Dawit Muluneh’s paintings of self-identity

He is a young painter whose paintings depict his identity . He uses his own materials and vibrant color compositions, and patterns that are really exciting to the viewer.
He is Dawit Muluneh, currently exhibiting 30 of his artworks at Abyssinia Gallery.
Explaining his technique, Dawit says that it is his experiments in the use of soil and earth colors and glue on canvas together with other techniques of mixing of media for several years that give his paintings that unique style. He first started using soil as material for painting as a result of shortage of paint but continued using it and incorporating it in his work.
Dawit says that his paintings are categorized as semi-abstract paintings because his ideas on the canvas are between realistic and his own abstract notions. All of his works are untitled because he says “art has a great power to win people’s heart who would give it their own interpretation.”
Asked about the durability of the soil color, he told Capital that he has proved that it lasts for some time. The glue, he believes, is the factor that helps the painting last for a long period of time. “I have a portrait I painted five years ago, in which I used soil colors; It is proof that the colors last,” said Dawit.
The exhibited works of the artist range in price from 2,000 to 5,000 birr.
Dawit graduated from the Addis Ababa Fine Art & Design school in 1995 from the Department of Graphic Art. He has participated in a number of exhibitions including Addis Ababa National Museum, Russian Cultural Institute (Puskin Gallery), Makush Art Gallery and the Barn Restaurant since his second year in A.A Fine Art & Design school.